No sooner do I make some posts about civilian deaths when this happened.

It's tough to win hearts and minds when you're taking out civilians in air strikes.

Update

The Globe and Mail had a story in Thursday's paper that contained this:

Rahmatullah, who is 13 and uses only one name, seemed to forget the shrapnel wound on his hand as he watched British medics treating his uncle. Four of his other relatives were killed, he said, but he dragged two of his brothers alive from the mud rubble of a house.

“The people who bombed us are bad guys,” Rahmatullah said. “They should attack the Taliban, not us.” ...

As in many such cases, the ordinary Afghans caught in the latest incident say they feel trapped between warring factions. Rahmatullah said he hasn't been able to attend classes since the Taliban visited his school a year ago and cut the heads off four students. Yesterday morning, he said he saw 12 of his neighbours lying dead and a girl with her foot blown off by the foreigners' bombs. Both sides are brutal, he said.

“We ran when we heard the bombs,” he said, with a shrug. “Still, they found us.”

The Globe also provided this insight into Pashtun culture:

Pashtuns, the most common ethnic group in the country, live by a centuries-old tribal code of honour called the Pashtunwali, and one of its central tenets is badal, or revenge. If a member of one's family is killed, the blood of the aggressor or the aggressor's family must be spilled. An unavenged death is the deepest shame a Pashtun can carry, and neither time, compensation nor uneven odds can erase the obligation for payback.

There's a saying that goes: “A Pashtun waited 100 years, then took his revenge. It was quick work.” Pashtun lore is filled with tales of family members devoting their entire lives to seeking retribution for a slain relative and accounts of weak individuals settling scores with much stronger opponents.

In this way, civilian deaths not only create anger among members of the population, they make Afghans duty-bound to take up arms against coalition forces.

Since the war in Afghanistan began on Oct. 7, 2001, at least 5,043 Afghan civilians have been killed by U.S. or NATO forces, The Globe said, citing the Afghan Victim Memorial Project as a source.

From the BBC:

Following the Queen's return to the UK her carbon footprint will be calculated and offset for the first time for a state visit.

Buckingham Palace will make a donation to an environmental charity to offset the plane journeys made by the Royal couple and their entourage.

THE QUEEN'S FIRST CARBON-OFFSET STATE VISIT Total air miles - 13,317 km or 8,275 miles Amount of CO2 emitted based on scheduled flights - 1. 5 tonnes Estimated offset cost per person - £13.20 to £14.18 ($26.22-$28.17) depending on type of offset package Source: The Carbon Neutral Company carbon calculator

Question: How will this "offset" make the trip carbon-neutral? If it just makes it more expensive without doing something to reducing the GHG output, then there wasn't much point.

From the BBC:

An attack by a US helicopter against suspected insurgents in Iraq has killed a number of children at a primary school, Iraqi security sources say.

The attack took place in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad, the sources say.

A spokesman for the US military said there had been helicopter activity in the area but he was not able to confirm any other details.

From the BBC:

The Afghan Senate has called on the government in Kabul to open direct talks with native Taleban militants, and for Nato to stop attacking them.

The Senate passed a bill which will now go before the lower house and, if passed, to President Hamid Karzai.

The draft law distinguishes between Afghan members of the Taleban, and Pakistani and al-Qaeda fighters, which it says are the enemy of Afghanistan.

In the past the Taleban have rejected efforts to open negotiations.

In Afghanistan, an American commander apologized for the killing of Afghan civilians by U.S. Marines who had been ambushed (during their retreat, they shot up about 10 kilometres of highway).

Here's a question: Why haven't the Marines learned their lesson from Haditha?